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Topic: Rogue Inquisitor Theya Martell (Read 3190 times)

+++Transmission Received++++++following events are based upon fragments of intercepted transmissions between agents working for internal security of Neptunus Minoras and an unknown Xenos warship in a stealth orbit and interrogations of the same agents+++

Inquisitor Pius Wood strode swiftly into the room, sweeping his bolter from left to right ensuring none of the mutants had compromised their safety.‘Clear. Move on in.’ Martell walked backwards into the room, firing into the slowly advancing wall of mutants as they shambled slowly up the narrow corridor behind them.‘Seal the door,’ Ordered the inquisitor, ignoring Martell as he moved to the central dais of the large circular room ‘Where are the others?’‘Dead. Korban fell at the last junction.’ Martell bolted the heavy door before loading another round into her Kroot Rifle and firing it into the lock, sealing it shut.‘A pity. He would have been more useful alive. For now, at least.’‘He was a good man too’ Wood ignored the gibe, so Martell pushed on ‘As were Melca and Durmont’‘They fell defending the Impirium, humanity and civilisation. Their souls will have some comfort from that’ Wood finally found what he was searching for, placed his bolter on the ground and pulled a heavy book emblazoned with the logo of the inquisition from his backpack. ‘Here, this is not of imperial construction, it appears to be alien.’Martell walked over and peered down at the offending object.‘It’s a water purifier, Tau construction. Quite harmless, no doubt traded for supplies.’‘Ah, so we have found proof of their heresy.’‘Heresy? The ancient imperial purifiers died centuries ago, this is the only thing keeping these people alive!’‘They should have chosen death rather than trading with xenos. Have a care as to what you say.’ Wood marked the time and date in the ledger, and began to write his report. ‘These people must be purged. This…infection has gone too far.’Wood looked up in time to see Martell swing her rifle down at him, the wicked blade scything through the air. He dodged to the right, but this only ensured that the blade punched through his chest rather than his throat. Martell pulled it out, shouldered the weapon and fired a round into him, putting another gaping wound in the old man’s chest.He tried to curse her betrayal, to question her actions, but there was no air in his lungs with which to speak, the blade and bullet had seen to that. The question must have been painted on his face, however, as Martell answered it for him.‘Why? Because the Imperium must fall. It is corrupt and decadent, it ignores its true enemies and strikes against those that would help it. Because you blindly hurt its people, whilst satisfying your own conscience by pretending its justified by an outdated ethos. Because people like the ones you have made me kill are innocent, whilst the ones you have me protect are guilty of crimes unimaginable. It’s not a crime to force people to live in deprivation, sin and agony, but it is a crime to try and make your life bearable. Because you have no respect for life, be it alien, human or even your own retinue. Because you ignore the crimes of the governor of this squalid rock but punish its people. Because you are blinded by power.’ She fired a final round into his forehead, snuffing out his life completely. ‘Because you took me away from Taura Major’She reached down and pulled the inquisitorial signet from Wood’s corpse, slipping it onto her own finger and straightening up, reaching for her com-link as she did so.‘Righteousness, this is Inquisitor Theya Martell. Inquisitor Lord Pius Wood has fallen in the defence of the Imperium, uncovering a plot from the Governor of this world to break from Imperial Doctrines.’The reply came from the orbiting battleship immediately.‘Inquisitor Martell, this is Righteousness Actual. We send our condolences. What are your orders?’‘I need a drop ship to evacuate the Inquisitor’s body, and an orbital strike on the Governor’s palace within the next half an hour. Furthermore I need my yacht prepped, as soon as I have taken possession of her you are relieved of your obligations to me and my office and may rejoin the fleet at your leisure.’‘Affirmative Inquisitor, Strike planning underway.’

+++Recording ends++++++It is believed that Theya Martell commandeered the former Inquisitor’s yacht and rendezvoused with the afore mentioned warship++++++The crew of the Righteous has been thoroughly interrogated, and, although found to be free of heresy, the Admiral has been punished for his lack of scrutiny of Martell’s claims++++++Previous contact with the Xenos known as ‘Tau’ suggest that Martell may well have joined with them+++

+++transmission ends+++

Theya Martell served with the Imperial Guard on the back water world of Taura Major, where the primary duty of her squad was to hunt down and attempt to control the Tyranid presence until a larger force could be brought in to eradicate it. Unfortunately the Tau also had a presence on Taura Major, and neither force had enough manpower to engage each other and contain the Tyranid threat. An uneasy truce emerged on the planet, with both sides doing their best to ignore the other as much as possible.Eventually, however, the Tyranid forces focused their attention on the Imperial stronghold, and wiped out the populace. Only Martell and her squad survived, and were unexpectedly rescued by a Tau and Kroot force.Martell spent many months living with the Tau forces, who excepted her into their culture quickly, allowing her to continue to hunt Tyranids with the Kroot scouting parties.Eventually the Inquisitor Pius Wood came to the planet in order to resolve the situation, ‘rescuing’ Martell in the process and drafting her into his retinue, where she eventually became his acolyte.Under his orders Taura Major was virus bombed.Martell kept her loyalty towards the Tau empire secret from her new master, however remained in communication with Tau intelligence, using her influence to subtly steer the Inquisitor’s actions to bring more of humanity round to seeing the benefits of working for The Greater Good.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Out of interest, are the fletchette and man-stopper rounds for the kroot long-rifle? The fluff says that Old Skool (pre-Tau) kroot rifles used to fire solid slugs propelled by chemical reactions, but after signing up to the Greater Good the Tau upgraded all their rifles to fire Pulse rounds, much like their rifles and carbines. Unless it was a really, really old gun, it probably wouldn't have different flavours of ammunition, as it just fires pulse rounds (and therefore not solid slug) - but it's a bit hazy whether the rifles actually fire pure Pulse rounds (a la Rifles and Carbines) or pulse-propelled solid slug. The codex says:

"It works by firing a solid slug propelled by a chemical reaction, although it was adapted by the Tau to fire Pulse rounds to make it the equivalent to the Boltgun."

If it means equivalent to the Boltgun in power, then I would suggest that it fires bolts of energy, and thus wouldn't benefit from different ammunition types. If it means equivalent to a Boltgun in style, then it fires solid slug, and therefore could have all manner of different types of ammunition. I guess this is more a criticism on the wording of the fluff than of your character, but it would be nice if someone cleared this up for me!

In regards to your actual character however, it seems a pretty solid character. My only problem is that there's a pretty big gap between the WS and the BS - for an experienced Inquisitor having fought against Tyranids many times, I would have thought the WS would be higher than your average guardsman, especially if he makes use of the Kroot Rifle's combat blades. The BS is quite high, and perhaps rightly so, but when combined with Deadeye Shot and Rock Steady Aim (and to some extent, Quickload), it makes him an incredibly deadly, and almost power gamey opponent. I would say increase the WS by at least 10, and either drop the BS or drop Rock Steady Aim. TBH, Rock Steady Aim benefits a character with a single-shot firing weapon less than it would if they had a semi-firing weapon. The ability to aim whilst walking with his gun is pretty neglible, this character would become a killing machine if he was handed an autopistol!

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An Inquisitor walks into a bar - he rolls D100 to see if he hits it. +++++++Gallery of my Inquisitor models here.

The fancy rounds were intended for her revolvers, I'd not considered the idea of using anything other than standard rounds for the long rifle, seeing as though its already a powerful weapon. If its a pulse round how would that work? Do the Tau use clips of some sort or do they recharge?

I'll drop RSA, and boost WS slightly. It was so low previously as I wanted her to be a more rangey character, hanging back from the fight and picking people of whilst others did the brawling.

When you say it's a modified Kroot long rifle, I assume one of the modifications is to make it shorter so it'd be usable by a human? The rifle must be about 9' long - although, if you plan to play at 28mm this won't be so much of a proplem as the height difference is much less apparent and a 28mm Kroot rifle ought to fit a human.

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I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

A rather shorter barrel is a defiante, possibly even dual barrels, but I imagine it'd still be far too cumbersome to use in many circumstances, hence the revolvers. Beyond than the modifications aren't going to extend beyond various powerpacks and misc bits.

Having found my copy of the second inquisitor annual behind the sofa I'm now looking at the rules for the water caste and finding the gismo a highly entertaining idea for a bit of misc equipment...

A very fresh and interesting character, I wonder what she is up to nowadays. She has the mental stat line to blag it as an Inquisitor for those who don't know better, though I'm dubious as to weather that Wp or Sg are justified. I'd place them both as 15 points to high.On the otherhand I'd expect a guard veteran with experiance of fighting with kroot against tyranids to be a much more formidable close combatant. A Ws approaching 70 would not be out of order.

She does seem rather under equipped. No spare revolver rounds, beyond the fancy ones would be an issue for starters, and I recon she might use some technological fighting aids, like a motion predictor eyepiece. A knife or short sword would be a backup weapon, or for when she doesn't want to openly carry alien weapons. As for the revolvers I'd have a look at the Revised Inquisitor Armoury and choose a more specific model. I recon a 5 shot version of the low magnum revolver would suit her. I'm not convinced of this character as the dual weilding type, so I'd suggest a distinct backup weapon like the supressed revolver or a compact stubber, with or without a silencer. I'd give her a reload or two for the main one, with some fany rounds thrown in, but no reloads for the backup.

How does the 2 shot rifle work. I could envisage some sort of elongated revolving chamber, with the second being below the barrel, that rotates 180 after the first shot. A double barreled varient would be the only other thing I could think of concidering the levels of technology available.

I'd buff her armour up on some locations, or maybe she would better suit the camoflague ability.

These stats are still rather placeholder (re.equipment, mainly), she's going to be a conversion of the Ellen Stone model from Reaper (if it ever actually arrives) and I still need to look at the model and see what can be done. Thinking about it a bionic eye with some fancy gizmo's may be just whats needed to 40k the model up.

@ Inquisitor Cade:I really, REALLY like the idea of the revolving chamber...

Anyway, here are some of the unhinged, wierd and potentially rather temporary followers that Martell uses to further her plans...

Ambassador Gaius Keynes / Marcus Locke

Ambassador Keynes was an incredibly skilled diplomat, as gifted at the negotiating table as he was with a duelling sword in his hand at dawn, when discussions failed. Indeed, he was gifted a custom made duelling rapier named ‘Diplomat’s Wit’, with Keynes’ more famous quote carved in the blood gutter, from a particularly grateful rogue trader upon receiving exclusive trade rights after employing Keynes. His frequent dealings with Xenos caused the Inquisition to keep a close eye on him, as much for his own protection as from their usual mix of paranoia and xenophobia. Eventually, however, their protection was needed, as contact with Keynes was lost following a heretical uprising known as the ‘cult of snakes’ on a backwater planet. Inquisitor Pius Wood, a fiery young Inquisitor at the time, arrived minutes too late to save Keynes from being bloodily sacrificed at the hands of the cult leader. None of his equipment or clothes could be found, and Wood reported Keynes’ expression as being ‘strangely vacant’ during his murder, as if the body killed was just that, merely a body and not the ambassador it was once.

Marcus Locke, however, was not a great thinker, diplomat and duellist. He was a fairly competent warrior, but his occupation of choice was scavenger and would be mercenary adventurer. Deciding (in a typical display of idiocy) that following the footsteps that Inquisitor Sirrap had taken years previously would yield treasures and lost loot from when he had massacred the cult of snakes, he ventured deep into the temple, looting as he went. It’s not entirely certain what he found there, but Marcus Locke was seen leaving the ruined temple, clutching a long duelling rapier tightly to his chest. He proceeded to ignore all his one time friends, convinced (in an entirely un-Marcus Locke way) the captain of a freighter to let him on board, and disappeared.

Years later Theya Martell got word of this story, and tracked Marcus Locke down. Upon finding him she discovered that he was claiming to be none other than Ambassador Gaius Keynes, and that his soul had been bound as a protective measure to the Diplomat’s Wit years before his murder, and had possessed Locke in order to find some way of getting a body for himself. Unsure of this story, unable to work out if the spirit possessing the scavenger was, as he claimed to be, Gaius Keynes or some rather less benevolent warp entity, she has forced Keynes/Locke to follow her and aid her in her endeavours under the promise that she would, eventually, aid him in his.

*Possessed- Marcus Locke is possessed by the disembodied soul of Ambassador Keynes. If the character is stunned or damaged by any weapon that does bonus damage to psychics or deamons he must pass a willpower test or the Ambassador will loose grip over the scavenger’s mind, at which point he will adopt the following profile:

WS WP SG NV LD45 32 40 15 20

and run, screaming at the top of his voice, to the nearest place to hide (GM’s discretion) until Keynes can regain control by passing a WP test at the start of the next turn. Any weapon that does damage to psychics or deamons (force weapons, sanctified, psycanons etc) do normal damage against him, however an equal amount of damage is subtracted from his WP, which recovers D6 points every recovery phase. If the ambassador’s WP drops below that of Locke then Locke regain’s control (and ruins everything by running away screaming)

Equipment

Armour:Carapace armour everywhere except head

Weapons:Diplomat’s Wit, counts as a daemonsword with a +15 parry penalty and the abilities Entrance, Bound and Deflection. Stubber (until I can choose one from the Revised Armoury)

Simeon Blackstar

You might want t make a note about losing the Feint and Persuade skills while Locke is in control - I'm assuming that's intended. The sword having a +15% parry modifier felt a bit off at first, but his WS is relatively modest for a duellist. Possibly it would just count as a standard sword while Locke is in control?

I also think BS and Initiative should be distinguished between the two of them.

Nice idea, but would it be easier to randomise it each time? Say, drop 3D10 from all of the above stats? That way, it represents him having varying degrees of bonkers - some days it's just a migraine, other days it's like he'd wished he'd never gotten out of bed!

Another idea that popped up, maybe if you roll the same number on all three dice, the stat changes are permanent for the rest of the game?

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An Inquisitor walks into a bar - he rolls D100 to see if he hits it. +++++++Gallery of my Inquisitor models here.

The randomisation is an interesting idea, will think about it. Locke is a total coward who's been dragged through an awful lot of hellish situations, unable to stop himself from, probably, doing alot of fairly horrendeous things in the name of a cause thats almost certaintly not his own or in his best interests (in a society where people are working for the greater good of mankind theres no room for a scavenging low life)

@Simeon: I meant to have the BS and skills change, completely slipped my mind. Also the +15% parry bonus will have to go when Locke takes over.

Still need to invent rules for the twins, but I'm not 100% sure what they are yet...